Diabetes and intermittent fasting 

A method of combatting diabetes type 2 and its complications that is becoming increasingly popular, and is receiving a lot of attention from researchers, is what we call intermittent fasting.  There are a number of variations on the theme. It can involve a daily fast of 10-12-16 hours per day, or it can be 2 or 3 days per week.  In the first method, you have an early evening meal, then take no food thereafter for the whole night until 12-16 hours later.  In the second method you just use water only for 2 or 3 days per week when you are fasting.

ALSO READ : Turning the Tide – Understanding Diabetes (part 13)

What does intermittent fasting do for diabetes?

There are a number of mechanisms whereby intermittent fasting helps.

• Your overall intake of food diminishes, which reduces your kilojoule intake
• Weight loss tends to occur, which reduces fat in your muscle and liver cells decreasing insulin resistance
• You give your body a chance to use up its excess reserves
• It gives the body a chance to “reboot “ the system in a similar way to what you do to your computer when it gets overloaded and confused
• You often find that you sleep better at night if you are having an early supper and go to bed with a relatively empty stomach
• Intermittent fasting also seems to rectify the microbiome of your gut which gets your microbiome working with and for you rather than against you

Another fairly aggressive way of dealing with diabetes type 2 and obesity, and especially food addiction that often causes these two conditions, is prolonged water fasting.  However this is not something that one should do without very careful medical supervision.  Here is a very detailed video and article of an interview with Dr Alan Goldhamer, who is in charge of the famous True North Health centre.  They get amazing results there with sufferers of diabetes, auto-immune diseases, obesity, hypertension and even certain cancers.  But remember this is not something you should do at home.

One of the advantages of water fasting is that it gives your taste buds a chance to reboot.  Often we may find that healthy food tastes like cardboard or is unappetising for someone who overloads their senses with highly flavoured, spiced or processed foods.

However if you have fasted for a few days, all of a sudden natural food, almost free of sugar, oil and salt actually tastes quite delicious. 

The foods that are most commonly associated with food addictions, and food excess are high in sugar, oil and salt – the SOS foods.  Some experts would include refined flour in with those – like fine ground wheat flour.  All of these addictive substances are laced all through the processed foods we love so much, and explain why the modern diet has such a hold on us.

Here is a personal story of a diabetic, Michael Kelly and his experience with intermittent fasting.

Here is a summary of an article published in JAMA (the Journal of the American Medical Association) on fasting for 2 days out of the week, and the findings of their research.

Personally I believe there is a lot of evidence to support the use of a whole-food plant-based diet together with intermittent fasting.   I also believe in the importance of a hearty breakfast to get your body functioning well, so I would recommend perhaps a 10-12 hour fast.  Have your evening meal around 5-6 pm, then no food, just water until 7-8 the next morning.  But I know there are many people who find it difficult to implement that, because of work or family demands.  The other option is to take 1-2 days per week when you just go without food, but drink plenty of water.   Of course it doesn’t help if you indulge in junk foods for the rest of the week, so intermittent fasting together with a healthy diet gives really good results.

ALSO READ : Turning the Tide – Understanding Diabetes (part 12)

Many studies have been done on Muslims during the month of Ramadan.  There was some benefit in terms of reduction of HbA1c levels (the long term measure of blood glucose in the blood), as well as high blood pressure and high cholesterol.  The only problem is that often the foods that are eaten during the night are very rich, fatty foods in many cases, I am told by my Muslim friends.  If they could concentrate on low-fat, plant-based whole foods, the outcome would be far greater.

Now that you have learned a bit about intermittent fasting, try it out and see how you do.  If you have type 2 diabetes, or pre-diabetes, just let your doctor know so that you don’t have bouts of hypoglycaemia from taking too much medications when you are fasting.  Don’t try this if you are type 1 diabetic.

Have a great week improving your diabetes, or better still, correcting your bad lifestyle that is making you head for diabetes, before it happens.

Dave Glass

Dr David Glass graduated from UCT in 1975. He spent the next 12 years working at a mission hospital in Lesotho, where much of his work involved health education and interventions to improve health, aside from the normal busy clinical work of an under-resourced mission hospital.

He returned to UCT in 1990 to specialise in obstetrics/gynaecology and then moved to the South Coast where he had the privilege of, amongst other things, ushering 7000 babies into the world. He no longer delivers babies but is still very clinically active in gynaecology.

An old passion, preventive health care, has now replaced the obstetrics side of his work. He is eager to share insights he has gathered over the years on how to prevent and reverse so many of the modern scourges of lifestyle – obesity, diabetes, ischaemic heart disease, high blood pressure, arthritis, common cancers, etc.

He is a family man, with a supportive wife, and two grown children, and four beautiful grandchildren. His hobbies include walking, cycling, vegetable gardening, bird-watching, travelling and writing. He is active in community health outreach and deeply involved in church activities. He enjoys teaching and sharing information.

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